Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! There are three Featured Blog Posts this week: “The Art of Letting Go – Making New Year's ‘Anti-Resolutions’," "Happy New Year: Time to think how we can make our lives the best that they can be in 2014,” and “Creating Beauty From a Life of Chronic Pain.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

If during the holidays you missed my last post, I highly recommend that you look at Tuesday-Newsday #130 and particularly focus on the section on Obamacare - and why doctors are warning us. This is very very important to everybody, but especially for chronic pain / illness people like us.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! There are three Featured Blog Posts this week: “Surviving the Holidays When You’re in Pain,” "Feeling Grinch-y? What you can do when merry and bright wears thin," and “It’s time for ChronicBabe Bingo! BONUS: Free goodies!”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

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*OBAMACARE / ACA - WHAT YOU NEED TO HEAR

Note from me: Doctors have been testifying before a Congressional Committee over the past week about how Obamacare will affect them and their patients, and saying what they think should be done to protect us. One of the doctors who testified is a neurologist who treats MS patients. His full testimony can be read HERE and I urge you to do so! This is too important to ignore and just hope that it will all come out okay.

What the neurologist basically talks about is how patients with complex conditions like Multiple Sclerosis in many cases not be able to get access to care and treatments they need, medications for many will be unaffordable, and many top doctors/hospitals will be squeezed out, creating a smaller pool of specialists for those who need them most. One statement he makes is, “Simply having an insurance card that does not guarantee access to providers nor medications is useless.”

My own personal pain physician agrees. I’m starting to get really frightened about the future of medical care for you and me. I found a few interviews and articles online from a couple of different sources so you can hear what doctors are saying:

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are “Time for Christmas” and “POPF Holiday Mail program to Support a Family Fighting Pain.” Don’t miss them below!

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

This year the Power of Pain Foundation is starting a new tradition… a Christmas card for the special pain patient or caregiver in your life. Do you know someone who feels like they are alone; well we want to give them a little joy and cheer.

So, send us their address and we will get the joy of delivering holiday greetings to patients around the world. The cards and personal messages from you will be sent out on December 15th so they arrive just in time for Christmas. Thanks for providing a welcome “touch of love” for our pain community members during the holiday season.

Each year we will also collect cards between October and early December and then distribute them through the mail, at hospitals, and in other pain management locations.

There are several ways to be part of the Holiday Mail program for the pain community. In addition to sending your own cards, let POPF know who you believe needs a card and special message this year!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are “Giving Thanks” and “Steve McQueen and the Missing ‘P’.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Living with daily chronic pain is a struggle. However adding in all the seasonal festivities, gatherings, food, family, and traveling -- plus our own self-expectations can raise our emotional and physical pain to new levels.

I think the hardest thing during the holidays for me, besides the usual issues of pacing myself and feeling frustrated at how my pain limits my activities - is to stop being negative and acknowledge my life is full of blessings. This year I want to experience the holidays differently. I want to see and feel joy every day. It's often hard to look outside ourselves, so I am making a promise to not just ‘count’ my blessings but to literally 'see' them.

I'm going to take at least one photo of something I’m grateful for every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day and create a keep a Gratitude Album. I've never kept a gratitude journal before, and I think that since I am a visually creative person, photographs will resonate even more with me. I believe I need to tangibly acknowledge God is in my life, in my new city, in my new church, in our first home, the first time away from family.

I’m starting my Gratitude Album right now, with a photo below of an incredible sunset I took a couple days ago while standing on my front porch. The incredible intensity of color, the unusual cloud patterns, and the brilliant light all make me grateful for the beauty of the evening sky. Even though my pain tends to be higher at that time of the day, I can’t deny I was captivated beyond myself when I watched that amazing light show. (I’m also grateful for all my blog followers!)

I challenge you to keep a Gratitude Journal or Album yourself this holiday season. I hope that we will all find a deeper appreciation for what we have, who we are, and all that is around us despite our pain and difficulties in life.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this Thanksgiving Week focus on gratitude. Both posts were written by Laura Morris at A Grateful Road: “Living Life in Gratitude” and “Your Appreciation Challenge.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Time for Tuesday-Newsday! The Featured Blog Posts this week are: “‘Tis the Season – Don’t ‘Give’ til it Hurts” and “I Am Not a Slob, I have an Invisible Illness.”

Let Me Know: If you’d like me to watch for articles on your pain condition, just drop me a note in the comments section below.

WARNING: My goal is to provide the most up-to-date news I can, which you can then take to your personal doctor and debate the merits of before you try it. I do not endorse any of the docs, treatments, info, and meds in anything I post nor can I guarantee they are all effective, especially not for everyone. As is the case with any health info, ALWAYS get your doctor's opinion first!

"A good Garden may have some Weeds."

I like to think of Life as a Garden... with the blossoming flowers as our souls fed by the happiness we cultivate.

Chronic Pain is like a persistent weed that threatens to take over our garden when we have chronic pain/illness.

Although we may not be able to stop the invasion of weeds, we can find ways lessen their impact in our lives: to remove the weeds we can, to obstruct their growth by treating them, or to step over them & choose instead to focus on 'stopping to smell the roses'.

This blog is about living a joyful life despite chronic pain: by being educated on your pain condition, becoming a smart patient, finding inspiration, and then opening yourself up & finding creative ways to experience life.

About Me

I am believed to have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome III - Hypermobility Type, which is a painful genetic disease that affects collagen and connective tissues... but there are some doctors who say I likely have a mutation of EDS or another connective tissue disorder.
I love my husband and my cats!